I enjoyed the Olympic segment on all of the strange fried foods you can get in China. Scorpion on a stick, anyone? It reminded me of a family tradition I’ve been meaning to share with you.
Each summer we go camping in West Virginia with my brother. We stay at a rustic campground (toilets, no showers) in the mountains. We tube slowly down a river (beer cooler in tow), and make S’mores on demand. My brother is an expert camper, so Tom and I just need to show up and pitch our tent while he takes care of the rest.
One of the highlights of the weekend is “Fry Fest.” My brother heats up a vat of oil on his camp stove, whips up a batch of beer batter and starts to fry stuff. My son Jake has never enjoyed any type of fried food, so I usually sneak him a yogurt out of the Igloo cooler at this point. I tried to supplement our menu with a bagged Caesar Salad, but it was met with derision by the die-hard fryers in the group.
Within minutes, my brother and his best friend Will are dumping large quantities of fried food onto the picnic table. We sit around in camp chairs eating ourselves into a stupor.
Past experiments have included:
Whole onions, corn dogs, hardboiled eggs, chimichangas and doughnuts.
Here’s what we had this year:
Fish (caught that day)
Fish (frozen)
8 lbs of french fries
Chicken nuggets
Chicken breasts
Jalapeño jack cheese
Zingers (like Twinkies covered in raspberry jelly and coconut)
And my personal favorite: fried OREOS! Check out the photo above. Yum!
If just reading this makes you feel queasy and maybe a little bound up inside, you get the picture. Considering the rustic bathroom accommodations, and the fact that I try to make it the whole weekend without using the facilities for certain acts, Fry Fest works out just fine for me.
Each summer we go camping in West Virginia with my brother. We stay at a rustic campground (toilets, no showers) in the mountains. We tube slowly down a river (beer cooler in tow), and make S’mores on demand. My brother is an expert camper, so Tom and I just need to show up and pitch our tent while he takes care of the rest.
One of the highlights of the weekend is “Fry Fest.” My brother heats up a vat of oil on his camp stove, whips up a batch of beer batter and starts to fry stuff. My son Jake has never enjoyed any type of fried food, so I usually sneak him a yogurt out of the Igloo cooler at this point. I tried to supplement our menu with a bagged Caesar Salad, but it was met with derision by the die-hard fryers in the group.
Within minutes, my brother and his best friend Will are dumping large quantities of fried food onto the picnic table. We sit around in camp chairs eating ourselves into a stupor.
Past experiments have included:
Whole onions, corn dogs, hardboiled eggs, chimichangas and doughnuts.
Here’s what we had this year:
Fish (caught that day)
Fish (frozen)
8 lbs of french fries
Chicken nuggets
Chicken breasts
Jalapeño jack cheese
Zingers (like Twinkies covered in raspberry jelly and coconut)
And my personal favorite: fried OREOS! Check out the photo above. Yum!
If just reading this makes you feel queasy and maybe a little bound up inside, you get the picture. Considering the rustic bathroom accommodations, and the fact that I try to make it the whole weekend without using the facilities for certain acts, Fry Fest works out just fine for me.
It makes me sad that 90% of what you described actually sounds quite tasty to me. But I was born and bred in the Deep South, everything I ate for the first 30 years of my life was deep fried. Damn, now I'm getting home sick.
ReplyDeleteI think I'm with your son on most of that - but I wouldn't kick the french fries out of bed.
ReplyDeleteHey - do you live in the DC area? If so you should come to the AllMedicre (AllMediocHer) dinner in Crystal City on Oct 3. You can find more details on the website (you can also e-mail me).
Basically, all of that sounds good to me. Except maybe the Zingers and that just because of the coconut factor.
ReplyDeleteDeep fried oreos is one treat I have not yet indulged in, or ever seen, or nay, even heard of until now. I bet it's genuis!