Tag Archives: The San Diego County Fair

Absolutely Fabulous: The 2014 San Diego County Fair

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It’s that time of year again for The San Diego County Fair, and this year’s theme was called “The Fab Fair” featuring all things Beatles.  Of course that made me happy because it meant lots of British references, and I’m all about anything that brings me closer to the UK!  It took two days with my family and one day with a friend/co-worker to get through the San Diego Fair this year.  As it happens every year, we were able to partake in the sights, sounds, rides, games and of course the fab food.  Next year, I’m going to take my family on a Tuesday to take advantage of “Taste of the Fair”, where some food vendors offer a sample portion of one of their menu items for just $2, which is worth the price of admission itself!  I spent just $10 on food that day and was able to sample five different items.  I hope the pictures speak for themselves of what a great time we had at this year’s fair.  The San Diego County Fair is open until July 6th, 2014, which gives you just a few more days to enjoy one of San Diego’s finest traditions, including the 4th of July!

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Inside “The Fab Fair Experience”.  It was a wonderful, musical feast for all of the senses.

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This was an awesome interactive display of Abbey Road!

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Old school records, speakers and a display on how records are made.  So nice to give the younger generation a wonderful musical education!

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“A Hard Day’s Night” is one of my favorite Beatles albums.

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One day, we will take Dominic to England to experience everything my husband and I have.  I know he’ll love it! (Crossbody purse by Bagjunki)

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Food and fun await!

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My boys at The Transformers display through Chevrolet.  Bumblebee has always been my favorite.

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My hubby is so happy to know our boy is growing up a daredevil and will ride pretty much anything with him!

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Dominic said, “Dada, help me kill zombies!”

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Our little snake charmer!

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Prizes we won each other: Deon won Dominic the minion, Dominic won me the donut, and I won the “Coon-munk” for Deon (we didn’t know what to call that cute cross between a raccoon and chipmunk)!

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Dominic was ready to try some awesome fair food…

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But none of us were brave enough to try the Triple Decker Krispy Kreme burger!

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My first two dishes of the day: Deep Fried Cream Cheese with sweet chilli sauce and a Pulled Pork Mac & Cheese Melt.  The deep fried cream cheese was fantastic and everything I hoped it would be, but the pulled pork sandwich left much to be desired.  Oh how I wanted it to be good!

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Next on the menu: Deep Fried Birthday Cake and the Spaghetti & Meatball Sandwich.  The spaghetti sandwich was quite good.  I think I was hoping the deep fried birthday cake was a cake pop dipped in batter and deep fried…hmmm, maybe a new recipe I should try out?

 

The 2013 San Diego County Fair, Part 2: Fun With Food

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Happy Fourth of July everyone!  Right now, I’m Las Vegas visiting our in-laws, but this is part two of our visit to the 2013 San Diego County Fair, which is all about the food.  But I must make special mention of the photo above of Dominic in all of his green glory.  He picked his outfit that day, and what you can’t see are his sandals, which also have a touch of neon green (yes, green is his favorite color).

On our first visit, we made a stop at one of our favorite spots, Chicken Charlie’s.  They always have some kind of wonderful and interesting deep-fried fare, and this year was no exception.  Despite the mixed reviews of the Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joe, I actually liked it.  I’m a sucker for savory and sweet, and it delivered.  The deep-fried cookie dough was ooey-gooey good, but I could only eat one.  I took notes from my sister and her friends, and brought Zip-Lock baggies to take home what we couldn’t finish at the Fair.  I then had one of my new fair favorites: fried cheese curds.  I know they’re probably best in Wisconsin, but I think the ones I had at the Fair were pretty darned good.  Deon and Dominic took it easy with corn dogs and roasted corn.  The biggest disappointment was the bacon cotton candy.  I was expecting it to be maple flavored, sprinkled with bacon bits.  But it was pre-packaged and tasted nothing like bacon.  Save your $5 for something better and get a dish with real bacon at Bacon A-Fair.  I can’t believe another year of the Fair has come and gone!  Thank you for another fun one, San Diego County Fair.  We look forward to more fantastic fair goodies next year!

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“Aerial” shot of Chicken Charlie’s, my deep-fried goodness destination.

SD Fair 2013 Collage 3Photo 1: Deep-fried cookie dough; Photo 3: Krispy Kreme Sloppy Joe.  Yup, I had them.

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SD Fair 2013 Collage 4Deon, Dominic and roasted corn, both days!

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On the Sky Ride.  Our awesome “aerial” shots came as a result of this ride.

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SD Fair 2013 Collage 12Dear bacon cotton candy: I wanted to love you so much, but I’m sorry it was not to be…

Sparkling ICE SD Fair 2013 2 (1280x960)Like our “Freeze Frame” shot, courtesy of Sparkling Ice?  We had free tasters, and my favorite was the Black Raspberry and the Pina Colada (click on the picture for their Facebook page).

DSC01691 (1280x960)From Dominic’s point-of-view.  It’s his first ever picture, taken all by himself!

DSC01645 (2) (1280x854)Good-bye San Diego County Fair…until next year!

The 2013 San Diego County Fair, Part 1: Game On!

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It’s that time again for the San Diego County Fair.  I can’t believe it’s already been a year!  Because this is the Fourth of July weekend and my family will be travelling to Las Vegas this week, I thought I’d dedicate this week to the Fair, and break our visit into two parts: this post will be about the sights & sounds.  We bought the “Unlimited Admission” pass again, but we were able to get it at a group rate.  That price brought it down to the regular price for a single day ticket, which paid for itself after our first weekend at the Fair (we went two weekends in a row).  The theme this year was “Game On!”, so there were plenty of game related sights all around.  The next post will be about, what else, the food!  Hope you had a great weekend!

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Dominic actually won a coupon for 2 pieces of fruit from 7-11!

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Photos 1 & 2: A gigantic rabbit!  Photos 3 & 4:  Dominic getting to know a few animals.

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We have entered “The Fun Zone”

SD Fair 2013 Collage 7Dominic’s favorite ride was from Michael Jackson’s “Neverland Ranch”, and he was just tall enough to take his first “big boy” ride!  In fact, he loved it so much, he insisted to go back on during our second visit.

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(This photo is from our second visit.)

SD Fair 2013 Collage 13“Twist to the left, back to the right. Twist and turn, til you’ve got it right…” Part of the Get The Balance Right video by Depeche Mode is at an amusement park, riding bumper cars (during that very part of the song).  On this one, Dominic nearly lost his beloved Rickie Fowler Puma hat!

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SD Fair 2013 Collage 2More photos from day 2: Deon has a love/hate relationship with the “Shooting Star” gallery game.  Just a few more shots, and he would have had it!

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Whew, thank goodness I wore comfy shoes (thank you Dansko)!

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One last photo at the end of our first day at the fair.  Part two later this week!

Bonus video:  Last year, I wasn’t able to get video coverage of our zip line adventures.  This year, I was able to catch Deon doing it, and pulling a “Spider-Man”!

Wherever I Lay My Hat…

Ever since John Taylor of Duran Duran sported one, I have always wanted to wear a fedora.  I have tried and tried to find one that fit.  No matter what size, shape, color or fabric, nothing looked good.  When we went to the San Diego County Fair last week, we sumbled upon a hat “booth”.  I tried on about 10 hats when I finally found the one I wanted.  I think it just may be a summer wardrobe staple!

Outfit – Forever 21 jacket, shirt & tank; Old Navy jeans; Aldo shoes; Vintage purse (reworked by De La Luna Designs, originally seen here); Hat from unknown vendor at the San Diego County fair; Juicy Couture ring & sunnies; Wendy Brandes ring; Michael Kors watch; Vintage cameo brooch

Weekend in Pictures: Deep Fried Paradise (aka The San Diego County Fair)

Happy 4th of July!  We are currently in Las Vegas, about to celebrate.  But since I won’t have actual pictures of the celebration until later, I thought I’d post what we did the last weekend.  Every year we try to make it out to The San Diego County Fair, which will forever be affectionately known to our family as The Del Mar Fair.  I’ve been going since I was a little girl with my sister, mom and dad.  Now that my sister and I have our own family, we’re continuing the tradition with our own families.

Each year, the food gets more and more outlandish.  I’m not sure what they’re going to deep fry next, but I’m pretty sure we’ll be eating it.  I think most of the pictures will speak for themselves.  Hope you have a great 4th!