'Tis the season... no not Christmas, although retail stores will argue that. It's the season of festivals here in the Charleston area. The ideal weather during October/November encourages a different festival nearly every weekend to keep things interesting. Certainly does not help the waist line since many of them are food focused, but the temptation is too strong. Recently we've attended several major fairs that offered good times and good eats.
First up was the Taste of Charleston that took place at Boone Hall Plantation. A lovely location, and my first opportunity to see a cotton plant up close! This event is very popular and you can taste some really delicious high end food without the high bill. Food tickets are $2 each and generally you need about ten or twelve tickets a person since most restaurants charge three or four tickets a taste. I enjoyed an excellent crab cake from 82 Queen definitely my favorite of the day. I also tried the Shrimp Spring Rolls from the American Culinary Federation, and a Gyro from North Towne Grill & Seafood. Bringing your own seating is advised if you want to chill a while and listen to the live bands. 
Next up was the Carolina Fair that goes on for two weeks in October. It's the largest fair in the area, well over 200,000 people attend every year. It is quite large, but I have been to bigger. Still we enjoyed the usual naughty fried fair food. Funny Northern/Southern terminology difference...Down here Fried Dough is called Elephant Ears. I had never heard it called that before. It is appropriate, they are definitely the size of an Elephant's ear. Remember when those used to be cheap food? Not anymore, $6.00 each! The profit margin must be insane. A slice of pizza which is less calories and much more nutritious costs less. Oh well, where else are you going to eat fried dough? The highlight of my night was getting up the courage to ride the mechanical bull! That's about the only ride I can handle since I have a roller coaster phobia. It's pretty bad, I've never been down hill skiing simply because there is no way I will get on a lift after reaching the bottom. The bull was fun, and I did pretty well, only fell in the last second.
The highlight of my husband's evening that night was when we were walking through the vendor booths. We looked at a terrific WWII collection display this gentleman had out with several personal items from when his uncle served and died in battle. Clayton is fascinated by WWII and we spent a good half hour chatting with Eugene Lundgrin about his collection and going through his picture album of places he's been. It was refreshing because he wasn't trying to sell anything like everyone else. 
One more event I went to was the Cupcake Camp that took place at the Aloft Hotel lobby in North Charleston. This was a really unique idea someone put together and the best part was that it was completely free! The concept is for bakers of all kinds to come together and share their best creations to all and be placed in the running for Best Cupcake in one of three catergories. It could be any at home baker or professional pastry chefs. Since I have a major sweet tooth I could not pass this event up.
Aloft is a cool location, designed to look like an industrial loft, with a sunken bar that had changing LED lights embedded on the top. All that was very cool, however the space was not big enough to accommodate the crowd that showed up. I waited in line for half an hour before reaching the table of cakes. Also because many bakers entered, the table had an ever changing line up of cakes. There was no way anyone could have tried all of them, and who could have the appetite for that? I did not envy the judges. I tried five cupcakes and the only one that I really enjoyed was the Margarita Cupcake. The lime flavored cake was moist and scrumptious. Decorated on top with green and clear sugar to resemble a salt rim, and a candied lime wedge. Unfortunately, I could only eat 3 full cakes and a couple bites of two others. I was stuffed and riding a sugar high and could not imagine trying any others. One entry I saw on the judges table made me want to hurl what I just ate....shrimp on a cupcake?! Barf. 
Winners were Amatuer Division: Corinne Citrolo's Vegan Raspberry Tiramisu; Best Decorated (Best in Show); Most Unique Ingredients: Bill Stewart from Spirit Moves Studio with "West Popular Pamplona Passion" Cupcakes; Best Charleston Theme: Nikki Riley with "A Charleston Bloom" Cupcakes. Professional Division: Allison Galentine from Caviar & Bananas, Best Decorated (Best in Show), "Pecan Pie Charleston" Cupcakes; Most Unique Ingredients: Brenda Hill from Peach Tree Bakery with "Chocolate Peanut Butter" Cupcakes; Best Charleston Theme: Cindy F. Baker from Franchesca's Custom Cakes with "Sweet Welcomes" Cupcakes. Hopefully next year's venue is much bigger so we're all not on top of each other. As if that was not enough for festivals I know of several through the winter. Oyster season is starting and of course Oyster roasts are very popular. I am actually on the planning committee for Dorchester Habitat for Humanity's River Roast. I'm not an oyster fan myself, but there's always chili and other options available. I'll just have to work it off in the gym later!
