East Coast vs. West Coast

I went to California this past weekend and got to see dear friends that I love and watch one get married. I've been to California a few times, but never paid too much attention to the food there, but I figured I better start. Since when it comes to big parties I don't believe in eating or breathing in my dresses before and during the festivities, I ordered a salad at Habit, which I found out was pretty much sacrilegious, and I apologize for that. I also ate salad at the wedding which I really got some heat for. They were chugging on the haterade, I swear. Anyways. After the wedding, my dear friend Payman and his amazing wife, Farah, were so sweet and took me to In-N-Out. 

The Strawberry Shake. Not going to lie. That was amazing. 

The burger (don't I look awesome?), while good, don't get me wrong, I'd eat it again, was not, in my opinion, as good as Five Guys. Let me explain. I ordered a double double animal style with animal fries, just to make sure I got the full In-N-Out experience. I was told that the fries weren't supposed to be as crunchy as they were, and I'll factor in the fact that it was around 1:30a.m. or so when we got the food. So ignore the fries, back to the burger. 

Generally speaking, I like my burgers with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and bacon. No random sauces. And the bread is super important. As big as my burger was, I thought it was a little too bread-y, and the sauce, I was expecting more than Thousand Island dressing. 

As I said, being as that it was about to close, I'm taking that into consideration and I'll hold off on my final verdict for In-N-Out, but as it stands now. Five Guys is whopping its butt. 

Quick Question...

Ever wonder what happiness tastes like?

I'll tell you. A rice crispie treat cut in half and smeared with Nutella. Oh baby, baby. 

And while we're on the topic of questions, let me ask you all for some help, any requests for stuff to make? I'm running out of things to deep fry and wrap in bacon!!! Oh no!!!

Cinnabon Ice Cream Awesomeness

Sooooooo, I'm going to California in a few weeks for a wedding and I totally need to get my body back in tip top shape which is only 4 pounds away but I keep doing things like this which really interfere with my mission. 

Seriously, what kind of evil genius builds a Cinnabon and a Carvel Ice Cream together? It's like those Baskin Robbins/Dunkin Donuts and the KFC/Taco Bell hybrids. Some of us are really indecisive and will order from both. And when we're feeling creative, we'll ask if they can layer it on top of each other. 

Who's a happy chunky monkey?

Vartamelon.

Still being lazy.

So this weekend I went to the Frederick County Fair. A bit of a drive, but totally worth it. Where else will they charge you an extra 50 cents for lettuce and tomato but give you all the extra cheese you want for free? Plus, they deep fry things I never thought of. For example:

That's right you guys, deep fried FRUIT.

On the the top you have the deep fried strawberries, on the bottom, what you see is a deep fried pickle. Let's start with the strawberries. To be honest, I was disappointed. There was still gooey batter in the middle which when I first bit into it I thought was some sort of cream and got prematurely excited, but when I realized it was just the batter I got sad. So much potential. Now the pickle. That was awesome.

The candy apples were very impressive. But most impressive and deliciously awesome of them all, was the giant mozzarella stick. I walked by it at first thinking, hmmmm, that looks like a fancy corn dog. Then I asked what was the deal with the corn dog and the girl told me it was a cheese stick. It was seriously bigger than a corn dog. Check it out.

Pardon my blurry cell phone pics, I hadn't originally planned on going to the fair but I got a flat tire and my awesome sister in law picked me up and I tagged along. 

Cheesy! 

(Side note, I made the brownies again for an event at work, along with oatmeal cookies, and my yummies got finished before the store bought yummies)

Valomilk

The past week, most of my cooking was recreating things I've made in the past for my cousins who were visiting. I promise, this week I'll return back to my crazy bacon and sausage obsession. I don't plan on reviewing foods too much here but I picked up a bunch of random candies in South Carolina that I can't get at home Virginia. A couple of years ago I read Candy Freak by Steve Almond. If you haven't read it, you should, it's awesome, the ultimate read for sugar junkies. A few things he mentioned in there have actually required some effort to find, so when I stumbled upon Valomilk at It's Sugar on Boardwalk at the Beach in South Carolina, I had to have it. 

After scarfing down two ooey gooey cups of happiness and joy covered in love, I'm praying and hoping some candy store in my area sees this and starts selling them here!!!

South Carolina

I totally should be sleeping right now since there is so much going on. We just got back from the beach last night and this afternoon my cousin and his son came to stay with us for a week from Canada. I feel like I've neglected the blog though, so here are the rest of the food pictures from my trip to Myrtle Beach. 7 days of all you can eat buffets for dinner (twice for breakfast as well), Shaggin Joe's for doughnuts, candy stores galore, foot long hot dogs, and ice cream around every corner. Most importantly, I got PRALINES. 

Look at that cheese ball of a grin.

If you are ever in the South you NEED to go to River Street Sweets. The praline is eye rolling good. So good there are only two pieces left and I bought them on my last night there. They also like to dip things in chocolate, like marshmallows!

I got the Heath Bar chocolate covered marshmallow.

I have to say though, one of my favorite things was at Dairy King, oh yes, the Queen has a King and he lives in South Carolina. Home of the:

FUNNEL CAKE SUNDAE!!! Holy Bananas.

Genius.

People stared, but I think they were just jealous that they didn't order it themselves. 

Original posts will return soon! Have a fabulous weekend! I'm going to a barbecue at my uncles tomorrow and the doughnut bread pudding was requested. Time permitting, I'll hopefully make something new as well! 

Deep Fried Snickers

I'm still on vacation, but I had something so ridiculously Vartamelon-y that I had to make a post about it as soon as I could and since I'm just unwinding in the room at the moment, what better time than now? There I was walking around the beach carnival when I saw one of those food stands and the sign for fried dough, hell to the yes, I wanted some fried dough. I got in line and started reading some of their other offerings: funnel cake (duh), elephant ears (turns out those are fried dough), and deep fried Twinkies. Next to the deep fried Twinkies was also a sign reading to ask what other things they deep fry, so I became the annoying girl in line asking them what else they deep fried. Turned out they deep fry Snickers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and something else but I forgot. I chose the Snicker because peanuts have protein and that makes me feel less guilty. 

There it is, swimming in the oil, batter oozing everywhere, it's beautiful. A couple of people were asking what it was and gave me funny looks when I told them which surprised me because I thought deep frying everything was totally normal in the South. They then let the excess oil drip off. 

I think I've mentioned before that I make really ugly faces when I eat really delicious, fatty food. My brother captured this on camera. 

I'm Out!

I leave for the beach in two days, so I won't be posting for a while. Take care everyone and please let me know of good burgers and hot dogs if you know of any in Myrtle Beach!!!  

Excuses, excuses

Another weekend went by and the only things I made were for my nephews, none of which deserved any fanfare aside from my little choompa loompas gobbling it up and making me feel special. Come to think of it, that's the most important thing. I also took my bacon carnivore to a farm fair, and guess what they were selling?

Deep fried Oreo's. Of course, I made a beeline for it and sat down right in the grass to eat them. My nephew wasn't too impressed. He took a bite and asked for cotton candy.

 I inhaled them as to not have the delicious taste tainted by the smell of goat as waited in line to milk them. 

Have you ever seen a goat's teat? I don't even want to say what it looked like, but I will say I did not touch it and as excited as my nephew was to milk, his turn came and he turned to me and said "I don't want to touch it". On to the food little one, on to the food.

He also didn't care for the 10 inch corn dog and asked for fries. psh. Omnivore.