My Instead: Annette and I enjoyed fried bananas, Oreos and Twinkies at the Belleville Chili Cook-Off.
The annual Belleville
Chili Cook-Off was here! I never miss it if I can help it. Annette and I had four
social commitments that Saturday, but this was tops on our list.
It was a sunny, but chilly
day…a perfect day for chili! We made it uptown around mid-afternoon and headed right
to my sister’s Cold Stone Creamery tent. Karen and her son Connor were busy,
but friendly and happy to see us. We visited for a while, long enough to be
cordial, but brief enough to avoid being asked to help!
At Connor’s suggestion,
we tried our first sampling of chili at a tent across East Main. It was good
and similar to my chili, but a little spicy. Annette and I are “wooses” when it
comes to spicy, hot food. The next one we tried was more "tomatoey" and less
spicy…a better choice for us. We tried another sample that was good, but nothing to
brag about. Then something else caught our eye: Beaver’s Den and their fried
bananas, Twinkies, and Oreos. We marveled, then walked on by.
We
headed back to Karen's Cold Stone tent to enjoy a chocolate-covered slice of cheesecake.
But on the brain were those selections of fried scrumptiousness. I have always
been curious about why anyone would fry Twinkies and the like. After all, they
are already on the “Most Wanted” list for “confections to kill ya”.
We stood at Karen’s tent
waiting to be acknowledged to place our order...but no eye contact from my sister.
She was slammed with patrons succumbing to the urges of their sweet tooth. In the meantime, my sweet tooth was diverting me back to the Beaver’s Den tent. Annette’s sweet tooth will try anything.
Retracing our steps, we
found ourselves in line to place our order for those fried temptations. The
nice lady that took our order (for all three - fried bananas, Twinkies, and
Oreos) assured us that they weren’t THAT unhealthy because
they were all fried in cottonseed oil. Okay, I’ll go with that...although I don’t
think you’ll find a Dr. Oz endorsement for them anytime soon.
We got the Oreos first.
As the Campbell Soup kids would say, “Mmm Mmm Good”. The cookie under the fried
funnel cake coating was soft and delectable. Next came the pieces of banana
hiding inside that same fried coating…great combination. Last was the Twinkie
and its “overcoat” for this chilly day. Another winner! Our favorite? The Oreos
won as Oreos often do!
While we were enjoying
our “appetizers” (we were having dinner with friends in a couple of hours), we
shared our opinions and thoughts and, above all, our laughs. It was a special time for both of us. It still amazes me how doing an “instead” can lead to so much fun and a
feeling of freedom and adventure.
It's funny how often I've had this opportunity at
fairs and carnivals and never even thought of venturing a taste. But today I did! I
savored everything about it. And now I savor the memory.
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| Fried Banana |
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| Fried Oreo |
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| Fried Twinkie |
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