Nanciful’s Blog

When I first moved to the US, my family lived neared Dallas,Texas. This is also where my love affair of fairs began. My first fair was to the mother of all fairs, THE State Fair of Texas. That was where I had my first jumbo turkey leg and candied apple. I remember feeling my heart bursting with the love for America.

I found another love when we moved to Los Angeles some years later.The LA County Fair has a special place in my heart. It reminds me of my childhood and also good times with family and friends. It’s now become a tradition with my family and friends that we attend the LA County Fair every single year. Hubs and I even took our engagement photos at the fair. Yes, we are hardcore like that. (we are not carnies by the way.)

The main reason for my going to the fair is not to see who won the best banana bread or see the fattest chicken. I go for the FOOD. I’ve done so much “research” that I have a eating strategy planned out.

I always start off with a giant turkey leg size of my arm to pad my stomach with some protein.

This place has the juiciest turkey legs at LA County Fair. The meat just falls off the bone.

Next is always roasted corn. On my way to the roasted corn stand, I saw a blue gorilla.

Another great thing about the fair is the abundance of condiments. This was the corn dressing table with lemon juice, salt, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and lemon pepper.

While the group was chomping away on corn, Hubs and I snuck away and went to get some Tasti Chips. The stand has only been around for the past 2 years but it’s becoming one of my faves at the fair. Tasty Chips are basically very fresh potato chips. One would think that it’s pretty greasy and one would say it is but oh so delicious.

Again, a plethora of condiments and vinegar in a spray bottle too!

Hubs and I are traditionalists so we only put lemon juice, sprinkle of salt and a side of tapatio to go with our Tasti Chips.

After years of meticulous research, I discovered that pacing is key to getting your bellies full of fair food so it was time to take a walk around the fair and just simply enjoy and sights and smells of this lovely place.

The 2004 Nanciful was all over this stand with the fried twinkies and oreos. The fried sweets were just so so tasting but the friend olives and pickles were quite interesting. I like battered sourness. But the new and improved 2009 Nanciful knows it’s time to give her old arteries a break.Yes, that is a Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich. Yours truly has love for donuts and chicken sandwiches but even this crazy eater would keep those 2 foods separate.

I have to say this sight made me sad because pork chop on a stick several years ago were all the rage at the fair. It had a prime location and throngs of people lining up. But now it’s just a depressing little stand with no love.

It was not long before our stomachs were demanding some more fair goodies. My sister had a hankering for some cheese fries and we started to make our way towards the fries cart. On the way there, A from our group could no longer ignore his calling of a jumbo corn dog.

As we reach our fries destination, Sis orders the regular cheese fries. However, the menu boasts several other goodies including yam fries with cinnamon sugar and marshmallows.

As the fried foods start to settle in me, I knew it was time to get something light and refreshing. I wanted a mixta, a Mexican seafood salad. It was on the other side of the fairgrounds but we valiantly braved our walk and finally reach my next foodestination.

The mixta consisted of fresh shrimp, crab, squid, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, black beans over a bed of tostada.I then squeeze half a lime onto the mixta and sprinkled it with hot sauce. This really hit the spot after all the greasiness.

By this time, it was dark and our savory glands where satiated for the moment. We walked around the carnival side of the fair as our stomach settles.

Every year as a tradition, we will also go down the big ass slide, called the Euroslide. It looks unintimidating here but it’s like a 3 minute hike up to the top and a quick 8 seconds down.

And of course as tradition, we would always finish the night off with some sweet treats at my favorite ice cream and I always get the ice cream sandwich half dipped in chocolate and nuts. The ice cream is actually soft serve so it doesn’t seem so heavy.

With this sweet treat downed in my system, I am finally happy and ready to go home. Until next year, LA County Fair.

**Fair ends on Oct 4**