Texas State Fair

For the past several weeks almost every trip I've made to Dallas involved a visit or two to this year's Texas State Fair. As one of the biggest Fairs in North America, one can spend an entire day, if you pace yourself, wondering the fair grounds. Since Mike lives in walking distance to the Fair, every time I've visited I smelled the cotton candy and could faintly hear the rides from the Midway. I am quite sad that the Fair will be over after this weekend. However I got my money's worth this year. Here are my personal highlights:

I finally got to go on the infamous Swan Paddle Boats with my dad. For only $6 a person we had unlimited time paddling around the little lake out behind the Natural Science Museum. Dad became a kid again. He would slowly paddle up to perching turtle and scare the bejeesus out of them, laughing maniacally afterwards.

The Texas Star was also as wonderful as the previous years. On a nice day you can view down on the entire Fair Grounds area and Downtown Dallas. The lines were not as bad as in previous years. It pays to visit at the right time.
I got a glipse if not sat through much of the entertainment this year including the dog show, puppet show, and various musical acts (including En Vogue!), but the Bird Show was by far the best. There's nothing like birds from all over the world swooping over your head and performing tricks.

Speaking of tricks, I had a few tricks of the gastronomic variety with the ever curious deep fried concoctions. I had a taste of the famous Deep Fried Butter (which tasted mostly like a warm biscuit with a buttery center). In addition, let me run down the reasons why I will soon be going on a diet: Deep Fried Cookie Dough, Fried Green Tomatoes, Fried Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Curry Chicken, Greek Salad, and of course Jack's Fries. I'm a little upset I didn't get a corny dog at some point. I think I did enough damage though.

I had some great fun at the Midway, mostly sticking to the simple games like Duck Pond and Skee ball. I seem to charm carnies, as I got to play many free games and often got free upgrades on prizes. Mike and I won two addition 'Duck Men' to add to last year's Duck Man (further explanation... We call these guys 'Duck Men' because they have the arms, legs, and hair of a man but the head and color of a duck).

Last of note was the wonderful job DART did with the new station out front of Fair Park. It was beautifully done, even art-deco style to match the gates surrounding the park. Parking and traffic was noticeably reduced thanks to this new way to get to the Fair!

The famous Tower Building in Fair Park (Morning, Noon, Twilight)

In conclusion I was very happy with both the comforts and surprises of this year's Fair. I will leave you with photos I took from last year's Fair versus some I took from this year.

2008 State Fair Versus 2009 State Fair:

John Deer Tractors


Mike posing with Duckmen


The Duck Ponds



The Butterfly Exhibit


Big Tex

Related Articles:

• Serious Eats - Deep Fried Butter Dance
• Oprah Winfrey tapes show at Texas State Fair
• Art&Seek's History of Fair Park's Art
• "A Fair To Remember": A documentary about the Texas State Fair
  

Fall Time is time for Baked Apples

I get on these kicks of buying healthy produce at the store and watching them go to complete waste in the refrigerator in favor of convenient store snack visits. I decided enough was enough. I will not let this beautiful batch of pink lady apples sit in the fruit bin any longer. Figuring that the temperature dropped a good 30 degrees yesterday (Texas weather... enough said), it was high time to try a new Fall themed snack. Here is my recipe for Baked Apples -

Ingredients

• Three Apples (I used Pink Lady variety)
• 1 cup of sugar / 1 tablespoon of cinnamon (I discovered this was too much but used the extra in some coffee served on the side)
• 1 tbs butter
  

Baking Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Core the apples (I used a knife) - if you cut through the bottom just patch it up with a little bit of butter.
Combine the sugar and cinnamon and pour into the core of the apples.
divide the tbs of butter over the tops of the filled apple cores.
cook for 30-40 minutes.

Viola!

Neither my father (pictured) nor I have ever had baked apples before. He told me that growing up one of the comic series he often read was Hot Stuff the Little Devil who was always on a quest for baked apples. Dad always wanted to try baked apples growing up but was too embarrassed to admit this was why.

These apples tasted just like a warm more solid form of apple sauce. The skins were soft and I just gobbled my apple down. It's been the most unusual breakfast of the Fall so far. I forgot the joys of cinnamon. Errr, and apples!

Ode to Photo Booths

Photo taken at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk on the first day I am 25.


Photo taken at Coney Island near the Wonder Wheel


Photo taken in mall in Fort Worth with Michael Napodano Sr. & Jr.


Photo at the Drag Show in Portland, Oregon in January. Weird mixture of characters, that's for sure.

For some odd reason I've only discovered the awesomeness of photobooths this year! It's become my new obsession. Texas State Fair is next...