toolprincess

The NC State Fair just ended and I got the chance to attend more than one day. I have a special fair trip day where a group (6 of us) go to the fair and try all the "weird" foods. That way you only get a bite and the cost as well as the calories are somewhat defrayed. Here's the roundup from NC 2010. Texas Frito Pie - as described in previous posts, served with sour cream and salsa for dipping. Group consensus - this was very good. Krispy Kreme burger - 2 whole glazed donuts - one for top and one for bottom of "bun", hamburger patty, toppings to order, condiments to order, cheese and bacon if you so desired at extra cost. Group got 2 of these - one with lettuce, tomato and cheese. The other with pickles, lettuce, tomato, mayo and mustard. I tried both. The donuts were cold so this pretty much ruined it for me a the first bite. I can see this being tasty if the donuts were warm/grilled. Also, the cheese was not melted. The taste was not bad - a contrast of sweet, salty, savory but I just don't like a cold KK donut. I didn't find a discernible difference taste-wise in the condiment versus the uncondimented version...I may have slightly preferred the one with condiments. Fried Mac and Cheese bites - ok. served with spicy cheese sauce for dipping. Bacon, Cheese and Mashed potato bites - Meh. best part of this was the spicy cheese sauce (same as served with the mac and cheese) Deep fried chocolate chip cookie dough - Delicious. I may be biased as cookie dough is one of my favorite things. Deep fried honey bun - A Warm honey bun is tasty. (Much like a krispy kreme) Did not need the breading. Too much. Peeled most of it off and just ate bites of warm honeybun. - Perhaps next year they should do the deep-fried krispy kreme burger? Kool-aid pickles - did not try these at the fair as they were selling one pickle for $3. I recently made a batch of these out of curiousity (you can make a whole jar for $3). I liked the sweet and sour. I definitely see why these appeal to kids. Deep fried Three Musketeers bar- had one bite of this from a friend I ran into at the fair. Tasty but can't imagine eating a whole one. Chocolate covered bacon (aka pig lickers) - ok. I find mostly the chocolate melts and then you are left with bacon in your mouth and its sort of weird. I would rather have "pig candy" (bacon sprinkled with brown sugar and baked at low heat until it caramelizes on the bacon). In past years have tried deep fried oreos which are very good. Fried twinkie - not bad, since the twinkie sponge is very light it is not too "bready" with the frying dough. Fried coke - disappointing - was just funnel cake batter infused with coke. Chocolate dipped frozen cheesecake. (which some booths offered to fry for you if you wanted). Fried banana pudding. New things this year that I did not try were - Twinkie Logs (chocolate covered twinkies), fried pumpkin pie, fried apple cobbler and fried pb & j. Other timeless goodies at the NC fair are - footlong hotdogs (I love Jesse Jones), fresh cut fries, mini-donuts covered in cinnamon sugar and ribeye steak sandwiches. Unfortunately no alchoholic themed items are allowed at the NC Fair. Also featured this year were 5lb gummy bears and pineapple lemonade. ( I did try the lemonade it was pretty tasty). The 5lb gummy bear would run you $25 dollars so roughly $5 a lb. Didn't seem worth it and that is a LOT of gummy!

I ate at Hash House a Go Go when I was in Vegas last December and it was amazing. We had the Fried chicken eggs benedict and a pancake as big as a wagon wheel. At the time we were there they were preparing to open a Hash House on the Strip in the Imperial Palace Casino. I also visited Hot and Spicy Crawfish located in a strip mall and no surprise adjacent to a Massage Parlor. We had some crawfish that were wonderfully spicy and some blue crabs as well. At the end I had used up too many paper towels to think about (the poor environment) and my lips were swollen from the spices. Both were a great experience!

I love Provision company in southport. Really good peel and eat shrimp, great burgers and grouper salad. An awesome view....

Me too! Oak Island is fabulous! I love Thai by the Sea on the Island.

Exactly - I think that with my SO a lot of it is in his mind. He just has his mind made up...if you don't tell him otherwise...he never even notices. But I agree if it was a real allergy I would be much more concerned.

I love Reese's pumpkins (and eggs at easter and christmas trees and hearts) - they now make them at almost every holiday so a version of them is almost always in season. I do find they are more tasty than the regular reese cups. I like the Mellowcreme pumpkins which are basically pumpkin shaped candy corn. edited to add: the texture is a bit different because they are thicker than candy corn.

The crunch and sweetness (must have some sugar) of a finely chopped mayo based slaw is a nice counterpoint to the zing and heat of Eastern NC BBQ.

Native Eastern NC'er here. I do love a good butt! Your sauce sounds divine. the only thing I'd like to add is a true eastern NC bbq is not pulled pork rather it is chopped pork butt. Put your butt on the chopping block and using a large knife or cleaver chop away. then add sauce. This way you get succulent meat and crunchy browned bits in every bite.

I have been with my SO now for almost 10 months and the food proclivities make me bonkers... He will eat onion rings occasionally and bloomin onions from Outback but turns up his nose at anything that he thinks or suspects has onions in it. I LOVE onions.... He "hates" sour cream - but I put it in a variety of foods and he doesn't even know. He "likes" shrimp and fish but only when they are fried. He eats no vegetables except iceberg lettuce and cucumbers. He will eat corn but only if it is cut off the cob. He doesn't like ham unless it is boiled ham. He doesn't care all that much for bacon. (I know its SICK) He likes french fries but not roasted or boiled potatoes or even pan fried potatoes. He will eat baked potatoes. He could happily live on hotdogs (boiled), chicken breasts (fried or bbq'd), french fries, and pizza (no veg). Edited to add: he will only eat sweet and sour chicken (no sauce so basically chicken nuggets) at chinese, won't even consider thai or indian and made 1 attempt at teriyaki chicken while I ate sushi and said it was "gross". It makes my head hurt. Not to mention my palate...I love asian flavor profiles and spicy curries.

We do this too -- we call it "fending," as in "Fend for yourselves!!" We call this "pick and point" as in pick what you want and point at it before anyone else and it's yours. You snooze you lose.