Keeping with food...

OK, so I cannot resist passing along this as well. I know few will find any of this non-sense interesting, but this is my blog and I will post what I want. So nyah...

I subscribe to Gervais & Vine's newsletters mainly because I love reading about their specials. You know, things like...Balsamic-grilled Choice Ribeye with Caramelized Onions and Whole Grain Mustard Demi-Glace - or - Curry-seared Jumbo Shrimp over Roasted Tomato and Asparagus Risotto with Saffrom Broth - oh it sounds so good.

Well, Kristian - the (from what I have heard) eccentric owners of Gervais & Vine, Mr. Friendlys and the new Solstice tapas & wine bar - often tells of his personal goings on in these newsletters. Last week I got a real kick out of this...

Yee-haw! The weekend is here and we're finally getting rain (which is making my hair 'fro out a bit). I'm not sure which makes me happier, but I DO know that my happiness is tempered by the fact that the Fair is in town. If you didn't already know, I am NOT a fan of the State Fair. I would be IF IT WAS HELD IN SOME OTHER CITY! It pains me to see so much of Columbia's hard-earned cash get shipped out to Nevada in the back of the pimped out motor homes of people that sell corndogs. Come on! You can buy the same frickin' corndogs at the grocery store! A whole box for the same price as ONE at the Fair. It should be called the State UNFair. I mean, please, WHO actually thinks an-brined, dried out pork chop on a stick is worth six bucks? It's like gnawing on your dog's rawhide chewy. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHHH!

Then, today it was followed up with...

Gee, too bad about this weather, eh? Sure makes going to SC State Fair more difficult.

After my rant about the Fair, I felt a little bit bad since I know that at least a few of the vendors are from South Carolina. So, I called on our good friend Judy, who works at the Fair and had her round up a list of SC vendors that you can buy your overpriced corndogs from instead of giving your hard-earned clams to some dork from income tax-free Nevada that uses your money to pad the carpet in his 10,000 sq/ft home built with corndog money.

I know, I harp about corndogs, but please understand that I LOVE corndogs and use them only as an example. I find them to be as close to the perfect food as humanity has achieved in its brief stay on Earth. Protein (the hot dog, which can be made from a number of different ground up animals) encased in carbohydrates (the beautifully fried, lightly sweetened, cornmeal batter) on a stick (wooden, hence natural). Heck, I'm surprised Lance Armstrong doesn't have the people in the chase truck hand him one of these every once in a while during the Tour de France. It's a meal on a stick. A STICK! The oldest and most perfect eating utensil in the history of mankind, dating back to our ape-like ancestors holding hunks of wooly mammoth over an open flame. It still works! Unlike the Spork, which fails as BOTH a fork and a spoon. A Spife would be more useful (a spoon with a sharpened edge) although a bit more dangerous to one side of your mouth.

Okay, sorry, got off track a little. So, I only use corndogs as my reference because I KNOW that a foot-long corndog only costs around 79 cents, so it really ticks me off when I see them charging $3.50 or more for them and then heading over to their motorhome that costs more than most of our regular homes to count their profits. I also realize that funnel-cakes, elephant ears and mini donuts are also expensive considering their simple ingredients, but they aren't very easy to make at home. So, unless you want to get a really big deep-fryer and grease up your house making a few funnel cakes, they're worth every penny. You can, however, BUY State Fair brand corndogs at the grocery store, noit to mention hot dogs, Italian sausages, pork chops and the sticks to put them on. Anyway, here's a brief list of vendors we KNOW are from South Carolina:

Big John Broome’s, Summerville
Carolina Fresh Foods, Neeses
Carolina Wings & Rib House, Irmo
Carter’s Pizza, Columbia
Columbia Sertoma Club, Columbia
Daley’s Mobile Food Service, Hopkins
Elephant Ear Bakery, Branchville
Jamil Motor Patrol, Irmo
Richardson’s Corn Dogs & Pizza, Columbia
Tony Piccolo, Chapin
Turner Concessions, Boiling Springs
Vencill’s Concessions, Gaston
Cayce-West Columbia Jaycees, West Columbia
LaBrasca’s Pizza, Columbia

So - I happen to agree that we should support local merchants. And that is my6 2 cents.