Fall Festivities

I've been very busy lately taking part in the Fall festivities. When I was younger and in grade school, fall semester was my favorite semester because we used to get so many days off from school to celebrate the holidays. And it was also the season when we got to eat delicious seasonal holiday foods.

Two weekends ago, I was at the Texas State Fair, the biggest state fair in all of the US, in operation since 1886! Most people go to the fair to see Big Tex, the worlds biggest cowboy--he wears a size 70 boot! He'll greet you and tell you about the day's events and schedule. Others go to ride the Texas Star, the largest Ferris wheel in the entire continent, at a height of 212 ft (64.6m), 21 stories high. You can see an incredible view of the city of Dallas on a clear day and as far away as the Fort Worth city skyline, 45 miles away. It lights up red and white and blue at night. As for me, I went to the Texas State Fair for the food.

As XL points out, the Texas State Fair is "the place for things on a stick and/or deep fried!" And he's right! This is the place where the corny dog made its worldwide debut!

Known as a corn dog outside of Texas, this heavenly creation is a delicious hot dog on a stick, dipped in batter and fried to a brown, crispy bun!



Goes great with mustard or ketchup and even some mayo! For the adventurous, try it with some chili. And those with finer tastes might want to dip it in some Ranch or Thousand Island dressing. Mmmm...delicious!

The Texas State Fair was also the launching pad for another famous treat enjoyed by movie goers and one of the staples of mall food courts, the nachos!

This inspired creation is a combination of crispy nachos chips topped with melted cheese and jalapenos! I like mine simple like that, with maybe a dollop of sour cream and avocado. Other like to pile on the beans and chili and salsa.

With such an illustrious history of serving up such delectable, spectacular fine fair cuisine, you better believe that I was making that pilgrimage to the mecca of deep fried food and tasty things on a stick!

Every year, a competition is held to decide the best food at the fair. Two categories up for grabs this year was the Most Creative and the Best Tasting. I only regret that I wasn't able to attend last year, when the Fried Butter--that's right, Fried Butter!--was chosen as last year's winner.

But this year's top ten finalists were fantastic. Among them was Fried Beer--yes, fried beer!; Fried S'mores Pop Tart; and Fried Club Salad--because all salads taste better when they're fried! Go here for a description the amazing ten finalists. I made sure to sample every one of these delicious treats!

And the Fried Beer won for Most creative. It was creative! Beer in a pretzel dough deep fried! And the beer stays liquid and tastes like beer. Me? I'd rather have my beer cold, but hey, that's some genius creation putting beer in a pretzel!

My favorites were these three:

3. The Deep Fried Frozen Margarita! You need to show proof of age to legally eat this treat! Margarita ingredients are fried in a funnel cake, spritz with lime and served in a salt rimmed margarita glass!

2. The Fried Chocolate! A mini candy bar is stuffed in a brownie, dipped in chocolate cake batter, then deep fried and served with powdered sugar, cherry sauce, and chocolate whipped cream.

1. My favorite and winner of the Tastiest Award: The Texas Fried Frito Pie!


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XL has an outstanding recipe for making Frito Pie. Learn it! Make it! Love it!

The inspired creators of the Texas Fried Frito Pie took a great dish and transformed it into ambrosia! Food fit for the gods! All the exciting flavors of the Frito pie in a crunchy, deep fried shell! Heaven! Just an amazing taste! That food definitely deserved the top prize.

Sure they had other fun stuff to do at the Texas State Fair, like the shows and exhibitions, seeing all those performers doing fantastic tricks and watching those animals. And yes, they had rides and other carnival/fair games. But me, I stuck to the food map and hunted down those delicious, tasty treats that can only be found during the fair and when the carnival comes to town.

After a weekend of stuffing myself with those morsels, I spent the next weekend just laying on the beach, enjoying the sun for a little while longer before it gets cold. You could say I was recovering from the previous weekend's glutton fest. But I didn't spend all weekend just lazying about the beach.

I actually took time to do some volunteer work for Breast Cancer Awareness. I even got a pink T shirt from the event. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I've posted about this before, and I think that every month, if not every day, should be about Breast Cancer Awareness. So ladies (and gentlemen), take care of those breasts and do your monthly breast self exams, or have a friend help out

On a side note, I'm sure I've mentioned before that when I was younger, I wanted to be a background dancer for Janet Jackson. She had awesome music videos and dance moves back then. Then this cover pic came out and I thought, forget background dancer, I wanna be the guy who holds her boobs for foto shoots! Where do I apply for that job?

Anyway, there's only one big festive event left for October, and it's a big one, one of my faves: Halloween!!!

When I was a child, I loved Halloween, and mostly for the candy! Who doesn't like getting free candy just by dressing up and knocking on someone's door and saying, "Trick or Treat!" And I still like eating the candy! Every weekend this month, I'd buy two bags of candy, only to start eating them before the week is out. Now I've bought four bags and kept them out of sight, so I won't be tempted to eat through them like I did the last four bags of candy.

Nowadays, I look forward to dressing up on Halloween more than eating the candy. Oh, don't get me wrong, I still like eating the candy. But now I have a blast coming up with Halloween costumes. I have a blast making up my own costumes and being inspired by whatever is going on in the world. This year, I had a few choice ones to decide on.

Some friends wanted to go as a group and be vampires. I was excited! Until I found out that they wanted to go as those Twilight vampires, complete with the bushy eyebrows, the hair gel, and possibly glitter, angst, and douche bagginess. No thank you, I'd've much rather gone as a True Blood Vampire, dressed up just like this



It's a great look! Scary, sexy and it promotes Breast Cancer Awareness, by reminding people to do their monthly breast self exams, or get a helping hand (or two) from a friend (or two).

Since my friends still wanted to go dressed up as Twilight vampires, I decided to look for other options. I thought about getting a blond wig, putting on my jean jacket and dressing up as Canada's latest atrocity singing sensation, Justin Bieber!

I even had the dance moves and the lip syncing down.

But then I was watching the news and I had an epiphany! The perfect costume! This year I'm going as a Chilean miner, one of the 33 successfully rescued. I'm going as the one who has the wife and the mistress!

I've got a helmet, and I'm attaching a light on it. I've even got old raggedly clothes and old boots to wear with it. All I need now is the make up to make my face look dirty, like the mine caved in. I even have two friends lined up to dress as the wife and the mistress. It's going to be another fun Halloween.

I suppose fall is still a fun time of year. Truth be told, I still much prefer summer because I get to spend time hiking or being at the beach. But there's a magic and fun that makes the fall festivities a wonderful time. I like it, and I hope you get a chance to enjoy the fall festivities, too.