Fun with Food...and the Fair

I’ll have the pumpkin pancakes with a turkey burger on the side.

Who orders that? I do…but certainly not on purpose.

On Sunday, we went to Mimi’s Café for brunch. I saw pumpkin pancakes on the menu and knew right away what I’d be having. The pancakes were served with caramel apples, eggs and a side of either bacon or sausage. I asked if I could get turkey sausage. The server replied, “No, but we have turkey patties…like a hamburger patty.” Thinking I would get little sausage patties, I said, “Ok.” Well, the more I thought about it, the more I realized I might have just ordered a turkey burger to accompany my pancakes. But…surely not. I mean, who offers someone a turkey burger as an alternative to sausage??? I’ll tell you who. Our server. Sure enough, I got just what I ordered. Delicious pumpkin pancakes topped with caramel apples, scrambled eggs…..and a turkey burger. Some breakfast, huh? All I could do was laugh…and laugh….and laugh.

The food adventures continued throughout the day. In fact, it got even better. After we left the restaurant, we decided to visit the State Fair. Oh, boy. Fair food. Need I say more? If you like fried foods, the fair is THE place to be. It’s proof that people will eat absolutely ANYTHING as long as you throw it in a deep fryer first. My favorite? Deep fried Oreos. My goodness. Those things are yummy. It’s like eating a doughnut with a wonderful Oreo surprise inside. Happiness.

I admit, I like fair food, but there are some foods that cross the line. Take the Krispy Kreme burger, for example. Who decided this was a good idea? A hamburger smashed between two glazed doughnuts complete with bacon and cheese. I’m sorry, but that’s just gross. Another outrageous menu item I spotted was fried butter. That’s right…fried BUTTER. At the same stand where the fried Oreos were sold, you could also purchase deep fried cinnamon butter balls. Now, I realize eating deep fried **insert your favorite food here** isn’t exactly good for you, but deep fried butter? Wow. Even more incredible? The number of people I saw consuming the deep fried butter balls. I’m no doctor, but I’m willing to bet those things clog your arteries the second you even think about popping one into your mouth.



Jacob and Annabelle seem to share my love of fair food. It’s an unfortunate fact. I bought myself a small cup of fries, then decided I needed a little something else to eat along with them. I left my fries at the table and went on a search for some other kind of deep fried food. I returned to the table to find an empty fry cup. Annabelle ate the entire cup of fries – THE ENTIRE THING!!!! Heath said, “Oh. I thought you bought those just for her.” Oh my. You can be sure I won’t be sharing this story with the pediatrician when we go for Annabelle’s two year well visit. I later watched Jacob tear into a corn dog, then learned he drank about half of Heath’s sweet tea when I wasn’t around to see. Yikes. What kind of parents have we turned into? I guess as long as it isn’t an everyday occurrence……..

Jacob couldn’t wait to get on the rides at the fair. He rode the carousel once with Annabelle, the bumper cars with me, and a little dragon roller coaster by himself. During our little bumper car ride, he laughed the whole time. He loved it when we bumped into someone. For some reason, simply hearing someone say, “BUMP!” makes him laugh. So, every time we crashed into another car, I yelled, “BUMP!” which threw him into a fit of laughter. I came off the bumper cars with a bruised knee, but we had a lot of fun.

I apologize for the quality of the pictures and videos. I left my camera in the car, so we were forced to rely on the BlackBerry.

When Jacob rode the roller coaster, I wasn’t sure how he would like it. The first turn threw him around a little bit and his facial expression looked to be a combination of seriousness and fear. But, according to him, he wasn’t scared at all.

Me: Jacob, did you like that? Did you have fun?
Jacob: YES!! That was fun! I went from side to side in my seat!
Me: Were you scared?
Jacob: NO! That was awesome, dude!

Jacob is in the second car:

Annabelle got to ride the carousel twice since it was her favorite thing. She loved it. She smiled and laughed the whole time. Heath rode with her and each time they came around, Annabelle had a huge grin on her face. I was so wishing I wouldn’t have left my camera in the car.

The fair is definitely an interesting event -- the food, the rides, the people. It seems the "adult" rides get more and more crazy every year. Just thinking about getting on some of the rides we saw makes me feel sick. And can you imagine getting on a fair ride after consuming a Krispy Kreme burger? Probably not the best combination. But, that's what makes the fair, THE FAIR. Deep fried Oreo anyone?