motd Thursday Aug 18, 2011

[Guest guest]

"OUR STATE

FAIR IS..."

Thursday, 18 August 2011

"A great state fair!

Don't miss it, don't even be late,

(our state fair is great)."

Oh how I love that movie from the early 60's, State

Fair, with Pat Boone and Ann Margaret! I think I

must have seen it at least seven times when I was

growing up back in New Orleans. As I walked around our

house, I'd be singing that catchy theme song from the

movie all day long.

Right

now, across the country, all 50 states are gearing up

for or have already begun their annual State Fairs! We

have a very big state fair here in California. I'm

telling you, it's massive. Over the years, I've taught

sweatin' classes at state fairs from coast to coast. I

love attending them. I just love the rides and my

favorite is the Ferris Wheel...of course. (Hey, a fair

isn't a fair without the Ferris Wheel!)

There's always plenty of big-name live entertainment at

the state fair. Then there're the big livestock

competitions where farmers or 4-H Club members compete

to see who's raised the finest pig or cow in the state.

(Oh, who will get the blue ribbon this year?) And

there's usually a cooking competition, too. Who makes

the best apple pie or the best pot of chili in the

state? By the way, those judges have a great job. But

I'm sure they must starve themselves for days

ahead of time to make room for all of those extra

calories! LOL.

Then

there're all the other foods available at booths all

over the fair. And you may know, some of these state

fairs take great pride in coming up with some pretty sinful

food creations. I should add, just about everything is

fried! At one of the state fairs I attended,

they were frying Oreo cookies and even Twinkies! At one

booth, they were frying Snickers candy bars. One time,

they were even frying Kool-Aid. They'd make

the Kool-Aid into a paste and found some kinda way to

fry it. Mmmm, that's one of my favorites. Uh, you know

I'm only kidding, right? (Moan.) Seriously, I'm

getting indigestion just telling you about

it! But hey, wait a minute. I've got the topper...

I was watching a story on CNN last week on the Iowa

State Fair. And they were frying up, (wait for it)---BUTTER!

And no, I am not making this up! It looks

like they took a stick of butter, dipped it into a

cornmeal batter then dropped it into the deep fryer and

it came out looking like a corn dog. Now come on, who

thought of that? And please don't tell me it

was my friend, a Deen! LOL. Oh, I just adore her

but everyone knows, (and a makes it no secret),

she's the Queen of Butter. Hey. she says so

herself! If you want to add flavor to anything, just

add butter. But oh my, the fat and calories you're

adding, too!

The

one thing I like about state fairs is that they bring in

lots of people from near and far. But I can

only imagine how much weight is gained by people walking

from booth-to-booth, trying all of the very

fattening fried concoctions available at every

state fair.

If you're attending your own state fair this year, I

hope you get a blue ribbon! And no, I don't want it to

be for your cherry cobbler, either. I want you to win a

blue ribbon for staying on program and saying

no to all of those fattening fried food

creations they come up with every year at your own great

STATE FAIR!

Love,