What we did in October

So, imagine my (Elizabeth) surprise when I learned that my dearest husband Cliff had never been to the TEXAS STATE FAIR.  He's a natural born citizen of Texas and I'm not, and I'VE been many times.  Scandal.  So this year, we decided to take a trek up to the DFW and go visit Big Tex at Fair Park with my parents.

Big Tex says hello.  He's not shy!

I know that there are games and concerts and all sorts of attractions to see at the Texas State Fair, but we really wanted to go because of the FOOD.  The FRIED FOOD.  (This is the part where my sister-in-law Tiffany shudders.  She has a masters in nutrition.)  We were psyched.  We figured that since we'd be walking all day and sharing food between the four of us, that it couldn't be that bad.  As my mother said "We're practically virtuous." Truth.

So weren't we thrilled when we discovered that the Texas State Fair had CHALLENGED US TO A DUEL! They must not have ever met my husband, because he is ALWAYS up for a duel.  The terms were this:

Eat this list of food (pictured below)

1. Fernie's Deep Fried Peaches & Cream

2. Deep Fried Butter

3. Country Fried Pork Chips

4. Fried Peanut Butter Macaroon

5. Green Goblin (?)

6. Sweet Jalapeño Corn Dog Shrimp

7. Texas Fried Pecan Pie

8. Twisted Yam on a Stick

We also added: 9. Chicken Fried Bacon

The challenging part?  Don't Barf.  What do you win?  EVERLASTING GLORY.  I assume anyway.

Of COURSE we were up for the challenge!

I don't exactly remember what order we did this in, but you get the picture.  Below you'll see the DEEP FRIED BUTTER.  You may be thinking "gag, Elizabeth.  I saw that Simpsons episode where homer started his own religion so he could stay home on Sundays and eat a stick of butter wrapped in a waffle, and it wasn't pretty."  True, but this was not so...animated.  Taste-wise it was like the Best, Buttery Biscuit you have EVER had in your WHOLE life.  It was delicious, bar-none, our favorite dish of the whole day.

Fried Butter = Delicious.  Don't even argue with me because I'm sure God eats these in heaven.  

Below is the Deep fried Pecan Pie.  It tasted exactly as it should and sharing one between the four of us was a wise choice because it was very sweet.  My note in the program was "yum!"

Why yes, I will have some pie!

I know this didn't come next, but I have to write about it.  This was the "Green Goblin" and it was a pepper, stuffed with shredded chicken and guacamole, battered, deep-fried and then covered in Nacho Cheese.  I was 11 weeks pregnant at this point, so this one wasn't easy for me.  The description turned ME green. But, it wasn't half-bad.  Cliff and my mother really enjoyed but I think my dad and I were just kinda weirded out that somebody fried guacamole.  Way to ruin a healthy fat!

There's probably a horror movie named after me!

Our next challenge-food reminded me of Thanksgiving.  It was a yam, cut into twistys (technical, I know) then deep friend and covered with cinnamon-sugar.  I'm not a Yam person, but this was actually pretty delicious.  It ended up tasting like Yam-chips.

I was healthy...and then I came to the fair.

Next up is the Sweet Jalapeño Corn Dog Shrimp.  This was an odd one.  The Shrimp were covered in some sort of Jalapeño jelly and then battered in corn-dog breading and fried.  It tasted...okay?

If there was a kick-ball team of fried foods, this one would be picked second-to-last.  Poor shrimps.

Below you will see the Big Tex Choice for Best Tasting Award Winner, Deep Fried Peaches and Cream.  This was really good.  The peaches were perfectly ripe, the batter wasn't too thick and the cream added a perfect little side of creamy.  I still liked the deep fried butter better, but this was still great.

I'm fruit! I swear I was nutritious once!

Below are my least favorite of the evening (though to be fair, Cliff liked them both).  I can't really tell which is which, but one is the Deep Fried Pork Chips and the other is the Chicken Fried Bacon.  I could only do a bite of each of these and then I turned green and got queasy.  Cliff loved the Chicken Fried Bacon.  We all thought the Deep Fried Pork Chips were overrated.

Fried Pig, Version 1

Fried Pig, Version 2.  

You are probably thinking, WAIT!  WHAT ABOUT THE FRIED PEANUT BUTTER CUP MACAROONS?!  Sad to say, we didn't get to this one.  We tried!  But when we got in line for this delicious item, they were OUT.  OUT!!!  I still think we deserve a win on this challenge because it wasn't OUR fault that we couldn't eat the macaroons.  It was the Fair's fault.  

What say you?  Were we victorious?  Or were we defeated soundly?