The California State Fair, Part 1

I enjoy the State Fair for many reasons! The atmosphere, an opportunity to hang out with friends and family, the food, the music, the animals, the food, the events like the demolition derby, the food... did I mention the food?

Well, you get the picture. I love the food. I usually prepare for months, finding out all of the cool new creations that will be out there. Sadly, this year was mainly about how gross we can make food, apparently. A maggot melt? Deep-fried raccoon on a stick? No, thank you.

However, I still managed to find some odd new things, and I went for a delicious repeat or two as well! I plan on going back to try a few more things, but here's a quick review of the items I dined upon:

The Fat Darrell - You may have seen that I talked about this not too long ago. If you read my review, you probably know why I revisited this sandwich! I'd been day-dreaming about this thing since last year and it didn't damage it's reputation this time around! If anything, it was actually a bit crazier this time around. Let's take a look, shall we?

Mozzarella sticks, finger steaks, french fries and some token vegetables, all spilling from one bun. This was definitely a, "two hands required" type sandwich, I'll say that much. I mean, really! It's basically a whole appetizer platter on a bun. It's well worth a try!

Deep-fried Kool-Aid - This was one of those deals where I was curious to see how they actually made it. Basically, it's Kool-Aid powder (tropical punch in my case) mixed into a cake batter and deep-fried in little blobs. It was strange, at first. They ended up an odd shade somewhere between pink and red, and really, it doesn't look or sound like something delicious. But it's pretty good! It's a bit tart and you definitely get the Kool-Aid flavor in there. I'm not sure if this is something I'd consider repeating, but it was worth sampling to be sure.

Deep-fried cookie dough - I won't lie, I gave my fiancee a little grief over this one. "Won't that just end up as a cookie?" Despite my jabs, she decided to go with it, and it really was a winner. The dough ended up being a hot gooey mess inside of the batter, not the cookie I anticipated. For any fans of cookie dough, it's an instant win.

Deep-fried Cap'N Crunch - Noticing a trend? I try to sample 2-3 deep-fried items every year, and since I'm a big fan of the Cap'N, this seemed like a natural fit. And for those wondering exactly how this came into being, it's kind of similar to the Kool-Aid. They mixed the cereal in with some batter and then deep-fried the mixture. And of course, shoved it onto a stick. Sadly, this wasn't too great. The crunch was no longer and it was all a cake-like texture in the middle. For some reason, it just didn't work. I ended up throwing away the last bit of this one, which is never a good sign.

Next time around, I'll be mentioning a few more things. On the agenda, we have deep-fried peanut butter cups, a deep-fried Moon Pie and more!