Florida State Fair 2015

 

Lance and I spent our day off last week at the Florida State Fair.  We’ve been a couple times the past few years.  We rode the swings last time we went, but this year we skipped the rides and just did the shows, saw the animals, and ate everything deep-fried.

 

If you donate anything to Goodwill this time of year, they’ll give you a coupon for $2 off your fair admission (so it was only $9 each instead of $11).  

We started off with the Kachunga alligator show (which we’d seen before…a trainer gets in the water with a live gator & carries it on stage…) But the best show I thought was the Sea Lion Splash.  I can’t believe the kinds of tricks they can teach these animals to do!  They did the normal balancing a ball on their nose, but the coolest part I thought was one of the sea lions doing a handstand on its flippers! It was well worth the fair admission just to see that. 

We have to enjoy funnel cake when at the fair, so we split one after the sea lion show.  There were dozens of stands selling them, but we went for the one that let you do the powdered sugar yourself! Look at this sugar bomb.

Then we checked out all the cute animals – giraffes, baby goats, sheep, and chickens with funny hairdos.  You can get up close and pet most of them (the giraffe grabs carrots right out of your hand with its long tongue!)

 

We didn’t get the chance to see the Welde Bear show this year, but when we went back in 2012 I got to feed one of the bears a treat through the fence!

For lunch we split a giant turkey leg and some freshly squeezed lemonade. 

We watched a crazy high-dive show.  It was pretty cheesy, but we saw there was a platform 80 feet up, we stuck around hoping someone would jump from it into the pool below.  That did happen, but the most insane part was a guy in a fireproof suit getting completely engulfed by flames before diving. 

 

Before leaving the fair, we had to indulge in one more fried treat.  This year they were selling deep-fried Reese’s cups.  I have a weakness for peanut butter and chocolate, so we went for it.  They were battered and fried golden, then topped with powdered sugar (I think we had enough powdered sugar that day to last us the rest of the year…) They were gooey and messy inside, but so worth the million calories. 

 

Today was actually the last day of the fair, so if you missed your share of deep fried treats, you’ll have to wait until next year!

The Florida State Fairgrounds is located at 4800 US Highway 301 North, Tampa, FL 33610.  This year’s fair ran from February 5^th – 16^th, 2015. 

Green Mint Asian Grill & Rita's Ice - Clearwater, FL

My friend Thu and I spent the afternoon in Clearwater today.  We read great reviews (and saw mouthwatering photo) for Green Mint Asian Grill, so we went there for lunch. 

It is a casual restaurant located in a shopping plaza off US Highway 19.  They serve a variety of Vietnamese cuisine, including banh mi sandwiches, pho, lettuce wraps, and boba teas.  They have a large chalkboard menu – along with a gallery of photos of the menu items. 

While ordering we noticed a little box at the cashier’s counter.  We asked what it was for, and we were told to put a coin on it and press the button.  A cat peeked out of the box and grabbed our coin – very funny! 

Thu is Vietnamese, and she said one of her favorite things is bún noodle salad.  We both ordered the Green Mint Bún – which is made of grilled shrimp, pork, and spring rolls served over vermicelli rice noodles, fresh mint leaves, bean sprouts, lettuce, cucumbers, pickled carrots & daikons, crushed peanuts, and sweet chili sauce.  It was incredibly fresh and had the perfect mix of ingredients – I think that bún is now my favorite Vietnamese dish as well. 

We also each ordered boba tea – ice blended fruit smoothies with sweet tapioca pearls.  Mine was coconut and Thu’s was Thai Tea flavored.  We took them to go with us and headed to the beach. 

It was a hot afternoon, so after a few hours of tubing and laying out at the beach, we were ready for something else to cool us down.  We stopped by Rita’s Ice on the drive home and got some kid-sized Gelatis – a blend of Italian ice and frozen custard.  Thu had mango and I had lemonade.  The creamy custard mixed with the slush tasted a bit like a creamsicle. 

Green Mint Asian Grill is located at 25821 U.S. 19, Clearwater, FL 33763 and is open 10am – 9pm Monday through Saturday and 11 – 4pm on Sunday.

Rita’s Ice has various locations – we visited the drive-thru at 1010 Court Street

Clearwater, FL 33756 which is open from 12pm – 10pm every day.