Happy Friday’s Eve, Guys! Today, I’ve got a special post for you. Since I submitted my final proposal last Friday and my defense isn’t until next Friday, I was planning to take a little trip to go apple picking this week. The closest apple orchards are a few hours away so I was going to make a mini trip out of it. I planned to drive up on Wednesday, stay at a cute little B&B for a night, and then go apple picking the next morning. Sounds great, right? Well when I looked into the different orchards I ran into a little problem. No apples! I checked some of their websites and they said that due to the beautiful weather and large crowds coming to pick apples they no longer had apples available for the public to pick. They did note, however, that they were still selling pre-picked apples.
What?!
I’m not driving 3+ hours and staying overnight to buy pre-picked apples. I can go a mile up the street and do that. I was bummed but I came up with a pretty awesome backup plan – finally check out the NC state fair. I had never been and this seemed as good a time as any to go.
Yeah I know. But I tried to do the cute, healthy thing first. Since that didn’t work I moved on to the indulgent, deep-fried thing:)
What did I do at the state fair? I ate, I walked around, and I ate while walking around. Below check out the four things I ate that you’re only going to see at the NC State Fair.
Blueberry Funnel Cake
First thing I tried was the Violet Vampire funnel cake from Gobblin’ Gourmet. It’s a blueberry infused funnel cake with powdered sugar, homemade blueberry pie filling, fresh whipped cream, and a white chocolate drizzle.
Wowsers right. The funnel cake was $8 which may seem like a lot but it is a “gourmet” funnel cake and it’s big. As I was walking to a table with it, people were literally staring at me like what is that? You could see it in their eyes. Two women stopped me on the way to my seat to ask me what it was and where I got it from. Another women sitting at the table across from me said, “Wow that looks good.” It was a sight for sore eyes. For presentation they get a 9.5. For taste, I’ll give them a 7. It was good but I didn’t taste the white chocolate drizzle and the blueberry pie filling was good but not great.
Bacon Pimiento Egg Roll
Next up was a bacon pimiento cheeseburger egg roll. While I was happy that the portion size was smaller since I knew there were other things I wanted to try, I wasn’t happy about the $6 price tag. I know that similar to airport food and movie theater food fair food is expensive, but $6 for a single egg roll seems like a stretch to me.
The egg roll tasted good but I didn’t detect that much of the bacon. For all of the hype and the price I had much higher expectations. Overall I don’t regret trying it but I would not get it again.
Caramel Apple Ice Cream
The best things in life are worth waiting for. No truer words can be said about the 2016 state fair ice cream flavor winner – caramel apple crisp. The line was intimidating.
Fortunately the folks running it had it going like a well oiled machine, and the wait only ended up being a little under 20 minutes. Boy was it worth it. This was the best thing I ate hands down. It was udderly (get it?!) delicious.
It was cinnamon apple pie flavored ice cream with pie pieces and a caramel cinnamon swirl. Wow is all I can say. And for $5 for a very healthy sized portion it was a great deal in my opinion. I wish it was sold in stores. It’s probably for the best that it’s not though.
In years past I’ve heard about Howling Cow being one of the highlights of the NC State fair. Come to think of it, in some of the news segments I saw I remember there being long lines so I should have known I’d have to wait. Again it was totally worth it. The guy in front of me was telling me how consistently great it is, and how he and his family always come and get this ice cream. I can see why.
Captain Neill’s Hot Crab Dip
This crab dip was the winner of best new food at the fair. When a dish wins an award like that it’s kind of demanding that you try it out to see why. After tasting it I thought it was really good. Award worthy, perhaps in the savory category. Considering the caramel apple ice cream also counted as a new food, I don’t think it beat that out. The dip was $10. Pricey, but again it’s fair food and it has crab in it so it’s to be expected.
When I got back I had a ton of water as well as some of this Kevita Tumeric Ginger kombucha drink. I like the taste of these Kevita drinks when I want an alternative to water that has some fizziness to it. I also like the kick it has with the tumeric and ginger in it.
After all that eating you’d think I went to bed that night feeling bloated but surprisingly I didn’t. I realized that I did a few things while I was at the fair that helped. For any of you who are planning to go to the NC state fair or any other fair, I have a few tips for you on how to mitigate any feelings of guilt.
One, be real with yourself. I knew when I was going to the fair that I was going to be eating unhealthy food. The foods I ate had no redeeming qualities aside from being yummy. Since the fair is the place to debut all foods decadent, what I did was plan ahead. Before I went I figured out the foods that I had to try. When I got there I made sure that I tried those foods first.
While I was there, other items caught my attention like bacon smores, krispy kreme burgers, and jalapeno pimiento cheese and bacon hushpuppies with sriracha bang bang sauce. However, I told myself that I needed to try what I came for first and then circle back to those other foods if I still wanted to.
In coming up with my list of foods to try, I prioritized foods that a) I knew I would only see at a state fair (if it was something I felt like I could get a restaurant, or say a specialty candy shop then I passed on it), and b) I would only see at the NC state fair. B was very important. Sure I would have loved to try a red velvet funnel cake but I’ve seen those before. What I hadn’t seen before was a blueberry infused funnel cake.
Two, don’t know where you’re going. If you haven’t been to the NC state fair it’s pretty big. Instead of asking for directions or trying to find a map, I decided to just keep walking until I came across everything naturally. I got to the fair at about 1:15 and left around 4pm. I probably spent a total of 20 minutes seated so I was walking around for ~2.5 hours. It turned out to be a great way to get physical activity in between (and during) bites. It was also a nice way to see more of the fair than I might have otherwise. Had I not taking this approach to wandering I may not have come across a specialty nut stand and purchased a delicious bag of spicy hot honey cashews.
Three, don’t be afraid to throw away food that isn’t amazing. For me I’m really big on just being able to try different foods. If I can find out how something tastes I’m content with only getting a few bites. I only commit myself to finishing food that tastes really good. Think of the space in your belly as prime real estate. It’s limited so you want to reserve that space for the best. While I liked the blueberry funnel cake it wasn’t amazing so I didn’t eat all of it. You want to save room for the things that you’re really going to enjoy. For me this was the ice cream. It was incredibly delicious and I ate every last spoonful.
So those are my tips. By using them I was able to try everything I wanted to try, enjoy the food that was really good, and not feel guilty about any of it. I came, I ate, and I conquered.
Have any of you been to the NC state fair before? What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever eaten at a fair? Tell me below!
Now on to the yummy stuff that you can fill these bowls with. Spoiler alert: Every popcorn in this month’s round up I would buy again. Full disclosure: I already have. Now popcorn can be a healthy snack if you choose the right kind. All of the popcorns on this list have under 45 calories per cup and are a good source of fiber.
Smartfood Delight Sweet & Spicy BBQ
When your chicken is done, turn off the slow cooker. You’ll know it’s done when your chicken falls apart with light prodding with a fork.
I’ve enjoyed other flavors of these Trader Joe’s crisps, so when I saw these mango and ginger crisps I immediately knew I wanted to try them. These didn’t disappoint in the slightest. They are really good. I ate these crisps with everything from fruit, pepper jack string cheese, or yogurt as a midday snack. While they’re pretty low in calories, they are nutritionally neutral. The price point is reasonable in my opinion. One box is $4 and it has 5 servings, which makes the cost per serving about eighty cents. I would buy these again because the flavor is amazing, but not regularly since they don’t provide any beneficial nutrients. I will say that these are a great snack if you want something crunchy to nosh on.
When I spotted these at Publix, my interest was quickly piqued. Turkey jerky in a Jamaican jerk flavor?? Sounded very promising. While I loved the initial flavor of these, they left a somewhat salty aftertaste in my mouth. It’s possible that I could have misinterpreted what was in fact some other flavor as salty. I say this because when I checked the sodium content it wasn’t as high as I would have expected based on the taste. These have a chewy, but not super tough texture. The bag says two servings but I think this is pretty clearly a one serving snack. Nutritionally, it offers a good amount of protein (esp. if consumed as one serving – 22 grams). On the other hand, since I consider this to be a one serving snack, that makes the cost per serving very expensive at $4.69 per serving. Ultimately, I don’t think I would buy it again with its high cost and salty aftertaste.
I’m on the fence about these. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t taste amazing either. In contrast to the Jamaican Jerky, these had a pretty tough texture and they weren’t overly salty. Similar to the Jamaican jerky, however, this jerky offers a solid source of protein (especially if consumed as one serving). Country Archer also uses all organic ingredients, which may explain the cost. I got the honey dijon on sale for $3.29 but it’s typically around $6. Since I consider this to be a single serving snack as well, this makes the cost per serving pretty high at $3.29 ($6 if it weren’t on sale). In terms of repeat purchase, I would lean toward no if I had to make a decision. However, I’m open to buying these again because I think the taste could grow on me. I also like that it’s high in protein and quite low in sodium (esp. for a jerky). If I were to buy it again though, it’d probably have to be on sale.
These black bean snacks have a really good flavor to them. They have a light and crispy texture which I enjoyed. If you’ve tried the pea snacks that look like these but are green, these have the same texture. Price wise this snack is about as cheap as you can get. At $1.49 per bag with three servings per bag, the cost per serving is 0.50 cents. In the two bags that I’ve bought, both had four servings. Don’t you love it when they underestimate the number of servings?! It’s like the snack fairies smiled on you. Nutritionally, this snack has a good amount of fiber, owing to the fact that it’s made from black beans. If you didn’t catch it earlier, these are definitely a repeat purchase for me. I think they would make for a great healthier snack alternative for kids compared to some chips or crackers.
