Asian in a Strange Land

Beating the rush

We went to the Mississippi State Fair on Monday, despite weather forecasts predicting rain all day long.  Figures that the forecast would be dead-on accurate the one day that we really hoped it would be wrong.  The photo above was taken during one of the few and brief respites from torrential downpour (I believe it was still drizzling), and shows how few people decided to brave the elements that day.  There was almost a week of the Fair still to come, so wiser people probably opted out of going on Monday.  We would have too, but some women from Trinity Pres planned to bring their children and meet there for a group outing, and I didn’t want to miss Sofia’s first Fair experience, so I tagged along.  In the end only two other women and their children showed up to take on the heavy rain, by which point we were ready for lunch so we didn’t even do anything with them except hang out for a few minutes and chat.

Speaking of church, in Sunday school the day before, Sofia learned about Joseph, his brothers and the Pharaoh.  When we told her we were going to the Fair, she initially thought she heard “Pharaoh”.  “No, Sofia,” we told her,”It’s not ‘Pharaoh’.  It’s the ‘Fair’.  There’s no Pharaoh at the Fair.”

Pharaoh at the Fair

Oh, so uhm… I guess we were wrong about that whole Pharaoh thing.  There is a Pharaoh at the Fair.

Going green

Even fair rides are getting in on the environmentally-friendly act.  A fair ride powered by soy diesel?  Never thought I’d see the day.

Funnel cake stand

Funnel cakes galore

For the same reason that I prefer to get my sushi from a sushi restaurant instead of a Chinese restaurant with a nominal sushi bar, the first funnel cake I eat will be from a place that specializes in it like this one.  If that’s all they serve, chances are they’re pretty good at making them.  Didn’t get any right then as we were still cruising and looking around.  And who knew there were so many different things you could put on a funnel cake?  I thought they’d all be powdered sugar.  From left to right I believe the toppings are hot fudge, strawberry, cinnamon, powdered sugar, bavarian cream, cherry, and apple.

High cholesterol, here I come!

Here’s a new drinking game for you: every time you see the words “fries” or “fried” you take a swig.  Drunk yet?  It’s probably this way at all state fairs, but Mississippi’s love of deep fried goodness is one of the reasons we’re always at or near the top of the obesity list.  Not that I can claim to be any better.  I came to the fair looking for some funky deep fried stuff like fried candy bars and fried ice cream.  Still no sign of them yet though.

Veggies?!

Who sells vegetables at a state fair?  Aside from the barely-counts-as-a-vegetable blooming onions, this was the only stand advertising vegetables, although philly steak places typically had some bell peppers stuck in there.  In their defense it was deep fried vegetables though, which makes them ten times better.

Flavored air

Cotton candy is Denise’s idea of fair food, so she was drawn to this stand like a moth to a bonfire.

Elephant ears stand

Ah, yet another indigenous delicacy I had yet to sample–elephant ears.  The man at the window explained to us that funnel cakes are like cake doughnuts while elephant ears are made with a yeast dough and are more like “regular” doughnuts.  Mmm… it’ll be a tough choice between the two when decision time comes around.  Both?

It was at this point that it started pouring for the 2nd time since we’d been there, so we ducked into the livestock area nearby.  It had a nice loud tin roof, but at least it was dry.

Lounging cows

The animal of the day was cows.  There was a cow beauty contest going on in the main arena, while some of the cows not currently competing were enjoying some down time.  The black canister in front of Sofia is a blower that they use to blow debris off the cows.  Never knew they did that.  Prepping and keeping cows sounds like a lot of work.  A gentleman from Morton we spoke to said that his boy raises a few cows of his own and wakes up at 5 a.m. every day to do so.  Not for me, thanks.

Nice cow

The aforementioned gentleman invited us to pet a cow, so we did.  This particular one was very calm and didn’t at all mind us being there or petting it.  I don’t know anything about cows, but nice looking coat on this one–got a healthy looking shine to it.

Culture clash

Cowboy hat, long-sleeved plaid shirt, boots–so far so good.  What are those, nylon pants?!  Maybe it’s not an uncommon combo–not my usual crowd, I’m afraid–but it looked like a fashion faux pas to me.

Cow show

Here’s a shot from the cow contest.  They use those long sticks to prod and pull the cow’s feet into position.  The more experienced cows looked like they knew the drill and moved into position without much coercion.  Apparently there’s an ideal/expected stance for cows to stand in to be judged.  Accentuates the musculature and such I’m sure.  We were here a lot longer than we would’ve been due to the rain, so I got to learn a bit here and there about how to judge a cow.  The judge presented a running commentary of each cow and its strengths and weaknesses, which is worlds better than most subjective judged competitions.  At least you know what the standards are and what to work on instead of some out-of-the-blue numeric value being assigned to you without any explanation.

There are spectators in the stands and collapsible chairs all along the railing.  People sit and watch this stuff, presumably for hours.  Not at all my cup of tea, but it’s great that we can all have different interests.  Different strokes to move the world, etc.

Wet

So it rained, and rained, and rained.  Then it rained.  Lunch time came and still no sign of relief.  We only had one umbrella, so we huddled underneath it while walking to a seating area with tent covering overhead.  As you can see, the tent didn’t do nearly enough to keep the wet out.  I went hunter-/gatherer-ing for some food while Denise unpacked Sofia’s prepared lunch of bagel and chips.

Steak-on-a-stick

Saratoga chips

I got us a couple Philly cheese steak sandwiches, a steak-on-a-stick, and some Saratoga fries from one stand.  No pictures of the cheese steak, as (once again) my survival instincts took over and I finished my sandwich before even thinking about photos.  I was starving.  Trust me when I say it was the most stuffed and packed Philly cheese steak I’d ever had–a decent bargain for $7.50.  It was so enticing that a lady upon seeing it asked me where I got it from.  No pictures of the stand either, as it was pouring rain, but maybe next time.

The steak-on-a-stick wasn’t so exciting.  A bit small for $7.00, and I’m sure not a prime cut of meat, although it was pretty tasty.  I’ll have to try this elsewhere to see if it’s even worth getting anywhere.  Steak-on-a-stick at a fair just seems to scream random-beef-on-a-stick, but we’ll see.

As for the Saratoga chips… what’s so great about these?  They’re, well, potato chips with the skin left on and not cut into chip size pieces (the “chips” are interconnected into a gigantic curly fry).  At least I can say I’ve had some and can pass next time for less exotic offerings at a lower price.

Happy lunch time

But the rain and a so-so meal couldn’t dampen the happiness of a fun outing.  We happily wolfed down our meals, relaxed for a while, then headed home, by which time the rain had really eased up.  Figures.  Can’t win ‘em all.

On the E-P1: I love having a camera that is relatively inconspicuous.  Whip out a 5D + 24-105L and people look at you like you’re a freak.  Whip out an E-P1 + 14-42 and some people might briefly glance at you but quickly lose interest having seen just another compact point-and-shoot camera.  Sometimes you don’t care what people think when you care more about getting the shot, but you know, it’s nice not to be “that guy” every once in a while.  Plus the load was much lighter on my shoulder and neck.  Don’t get me wrong: when the big guns are needed I don’t hesitate to use them.  But it’s very nice to have a smaller system to use for more casual and less demanding use.

More silliness

The fair was fun, especially considering the rain, but we got nowhere near the full fair experience.  No funnel cake, elephant ears, cotton candy, deep fried weirdness, rides, etc.  So we decided to try again later in the week when it would be drier.  Stay tuned for part 2 and the thrilling conclusion of our Mississippi State Fair 2009 adventure.  Will he finally enjoy the funnel cake he’s been craving?  Will she score some cotton candy?  Will anybody get to go on any of the rides?  You’re on the edge of your seat with breathless anticipation, I know, but you’ll just have to wait for part 2.