Deep-Fried Food Frenzy, Garden Delights & More at the San Diego County Fair

We made our annual pilgrimage to the San Diego County Fair the other week to nosh on fattening food, peruse the sights and soak up the colorful, crowd-filled ambience.

Our first stop was the Flower & Garden Show. The superbly executed San Diego Botanic Garden’s award-winning exhibit commemorated the late Bill Teague. Bill was an incredible landscape designer and horticultural expert whose work includes numerous botanic, public and private gardens. Incorporating his signature hat on a bench in the installation perfected the glowing tribute.

Honoring this year’s theme of “Race to the Fair,” artist Rick Hartner created an astonishing car and driver with his faithful dog hanging out the window entirely out of recycled rebar and other reused metal materials.

There was no shortage of deep-fried decadence from frog legs to Kool-Aid. World famous Pink’s Hot Dogs was on hand serving up laden bacon chili cheese dogs. Local Roxy Restaurant dished out sinfully delicious fare such as garlic-battered mushrooms, artichokes and fries.

I once read that eating deep-fried fat and sugar such as a doughnut is the equivalent of ingesting 1000 tiny razorblades. At least that’s the havoc it wreaks on your system. Dare I ask how many calories, fat grams, trans fats, sugar and salt are in fair favorites such as a deep-fried Oreo cookies or Krispy Kreme chicken sandwiches? Although I couldn’t find data on the latest gut-busters, here’s some counts from the Calorie King website that may astonish:

Fried Snickers: 420 calories and 34 grams of fat
Giant Turkey Leg: 1,136 calories and 54 grams of fat
Australian Battered Potato: 1,290 calories and 66 grams of fat  

For a less caloric five minutes of fun, Swifty Swine Pig Racing featuring Lyndsay Loham is always entertaining.

Finally, we didn’t stay long enough to hear the iconic Flock of Seagulls but just listening to the band’ crew tune-up in advance was enough for a full on ’80s flashback. For a real ’80s-era indulgence, rent the 2010 movie Hot Tub Time Machine.